Letters to the editor

As Canadians visiting your beautiful city, my partner and I wanted to correct a piece of misinformation provided in a letter regarding socialized medicine.

While we cannot speak about the medical systems of Great Britain or Sweden, we are very familiar with the Canadian health care system.

In Canada, treatment is provided based on the need of the individual versus others in a similar condition or a set standard level of illness that requires care.

Ordinary family doctor visits are usually available on demand, complex surgery may take months. This method of making decisions about when people get care means that sometime people do not get care as soon as people who can afford treatment may receive care in the United States.

However, medical treatment is provided to all who need it. Old people and the poor are not refused treatment; they have to wait for it as do the young and the rich.

Our system is far from perfect, but is one that most Canadians feel is worthy of continuing.

As an additional point of information, while all Canadians are able to access medical treatment, the Canadian government spends less per capita on medical care than does the U.S.

WAYNE DEL'ORME

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Bush wrong on Georgian conflict

Immediately after the beginning of the Russo-Georgian conflict, President Bush ignored the brutal attack on South Ossetia ordered by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and stated that the United States stands for the territorial integrity of Georgia with regard to that breakaway province.

In the case of Serbia's territorial integrity regarding Kosovo, President Bush not only recognized the jihadist government of Former Kosovo Liberation Army Commander, Hashim Thaci, but welcomed this terrorist into the White House, as did Condoleezza Rice.ï¿½ï¿½ To add insult to the injury, President Bush has plans to send more of our taxpayers' dollars to support Thaci's corrupt government.

In a story that rivals Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, President Bush's ally, Hashim Thaci, has been implicated in a shocking scheme that harvested body parts of young Serbian soldiers in 1999.ï¿½ï¿½ In her book, "The Hunt: Me and War Criminals," the former chief prosecutor at the Hague, Carla Del Ponte, writes of the victims who were deprived of a kidney, then locked up again inside the barracks until the moment they were killed for other vial organs.ï¿½ï¿½

In this way, the other prisoners were aware of the fate that awaited them and according to the source, pleaded, terrified to be killed immediately.

But then, they were only Serbs.

JOE B. McCULLOUGH

Port Wentworth

McCain-Palin would end right to choice

Sarah Palin chose to give birth to her fifth child with Down's syndrome.

My heart goes out to any woman who considers a choice to terminate a pregnancy but the operative word here is CHOICE. She had a choice. If John McCain and Sarah Palin get elected, they would work to deny other women that same choice. They oppose all abortions, including cases of rape and incest, even against a minor. Palin and McCain have promised to fight for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. They will also be in the position to name several of the next Supreme Court judges.

While the success of a constitutional amendment is doubtful, naming even one judge to the Supreme Court could be enough to overturn Roe v. Wade.

For those of you who doubt the reality of the threat to choice, I refer you to House Resolution 536 pending in the Georgia legislature. This would define life as starting at fertilization and would not only effectively ban all abortions but would also ban any contraception that prevents implantation of the fertilized egg.

That would include Depo, IUD's and many forms of oral contraception. Investigate the McCain/Palin views on abortion and remember, you still have a choice, at least for a while.

CHRIS GARBETT

Tybee Island

Obama just another liberal attorney

The 2008 presidential campaignï¿½ï¿½has been promoted as a referendum on "change": who can bring it and who can't.ï¿½ï¿½

However, the "hope and change" mantra of Obama/Bidenï¿½ï¿½is nothing more thanï¿½ï¿½traditional Northern liberals who want to raise taxes onï¿½ï¿½businesses and the "upper class," whileï¿½ï¿½expanding government andï¿½ï¿½entitlement programs.ï¿½ï¿½John McCain/Sarah Palin talk moreï¿½ï¿½likeï¿½ï¿½conventional Western or Southern conservatives in favor of spending cuts, across-the-board lower taxes and smaller government.

If we want to see real change, we should consider rejecting the tired, predictable pattern of lawyers as presidential nominees. Every Democratic nominee for president and vice president in the last seven electionsï¿½ï¿½(except Al Gore who dropped out of law school to run for Congress) has been a lawyer. Barack Obama got out of Harvard Law School, worked for a law firm before becoming a "community organizer," and went into politics. Joe Biden graduated from law school and almost immediately ran for office.ï¿½ï¿½ Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John Kerry (all lawyers)ï¿½ï¿½are examples ofï¿½ï¿½the same tired pattern.

While lawyers are trained to evaluate both sides of an issue,ï¿½ï¿½they do not run companies, defend our country, lead people, or growï¿½ï¿½or build things. One would think the Democrats would eventually nominate someone who hasn't spent their life creating "legalese," much less someone who wouldn't last five minutes into an FBI background check.

If you need an attorney, check the Yellow Pages. If you want real change, consider voting for a former military officer and a working mom who haveï¿½ï¿½led people and fought for the "least of these." Wouldn't that be a refreshing "change?"